THE DEER OF INDIA 



should be carefully studied by anyone who may 

 intend to go in search of this stag. 



From the accounts given by all the authors who 

 have had much practical experience of the sport, 

 it is obvious that, reprehensible though it be to 

 bag small and therefore useless heads of any large 

 game, it behoves every sportsman to exercise the 

 greatest possible forbearance in the case of this 

 stag, which owing to ruthless slaughter by natives 

 in the winter, has become so scarce. 



The vernacular names for this deer are 



In Cashmere Hangul or Honglu. 

 Hindustani Barasingha. 



THE SIKKIM STAG (Cervus affinis vel Wallichii) 



Jerdon states that this large stag stands from 

 4^ to nearly 5 feet at the shoulder, and that his 

 coat, which is pale rufous in summer, becomes of a 

 fine, clear grey colour in winter, the white disc 

 being "moderately large." 



Hodgson's description of the horns of this stag 

 is quoted by both Jerdon and Sterndale. It runs 

 thus : " Pedicles elevate ; burrs rather small ; two 

 basal antlers, nearly straight, go forward in direction 

 as to overshadow the face to the end of the nasal ; 

 larger than the royal antlers ; median or royal 

 antlers, directed forward and upwards ; beam with 

 a terminal fork, the prongs radiating laterally and 

 equally, the inner one longest and thinnest." 



The bifurcation of the top of the beam, in lieu 



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